This is still an M rated story, but not as much as I had intended at first. M rating is now because of excessive swearing, sexual references, and other things.
At the reception the Avalanche and former l'Cie groups converged to catch up on what has been happening. They had claimed a table and half of another, the other half of the table was being used by the NORA group, minus one. Soon after the groups joined Lightning had walked over to join them, and get away from Snow.
"So how is school going, Hope?" Yuffie asked the platinum haired boy.
"I'm supposed to research and write about something from, well, your time," Hope replied to the ninja.
"Were you given something or did you choose?" Cloud asked the boy.
"I chose," Hope replied to the blond "I chose to write about Sephiroth," The statement earned him a few surprised looks from the two groups.
"Why would you write about him?" Yuffie asked calmly.
"Well he was a hero, once upon a time," Aerith answered for Hope.
"On a different note," Cid interrupted, changing the subject "Who wants to go to Pulse with me?"
"What?" Lightning asked the pilot.
"I'm heading an expedition to the foreign land," Cid explained to the group "So who wants to come and see whats left of our sorry world?"
"We're going," Vincent answered for both him and Fang.
"I think all of us, except Snow, Serah, Sazh and Hope are going," Cloud said in his SOLDIER tone. He saw the looks of confusion on the faces of Sazh and Hope, and nearly laughed before explaining "Sazh, you need to take care of Dajh and Hope, you are still in school."
"I'm sure I can get my dad to let me go with you guys!" Hope stated loudly to Cloud.
"Hope, stay in school so you can have a better life than the rest of us," Cloud replied without thinking. The strange looks from the others told him he made a mistake "Let me rephrase that. Stay in school so you don't become a soldier."
"Kid," Cid began to add "I guarantee that only two of our group sleep soundly. And I'm not one of them."
"Anyways," Vincent said to change the subject back to the original topic "I take it you're coming to us for additional information on Sephiroth?" Hope nodded in response.
"To be honest Hope," Tifa started to say "I'm pretty sure we all know next to nothing about him. He is the most . . . most . . ."
"Enigmatic person in history," Vincent finished for her.
"Sorry Hope," Cloud said quietly to the boy.
"It's okay. Two of my friends are writing about the Shinra and you guys," Hope said trying to keep the moment from going quiet.
"Well that should be fun for them," Barret commented.
"You should tell your friend not to forget about me," Yuffie started to say. All of Avalanche knew what was coming next "Master Ninja, world explorer, and materia thief extraordinaire, Yuffie Kisaragi!"
As Yuffie went on her egotistical campaign to Hope, Cloud completely shut her out and had just noticed that Lightning had left a little while ago. He looked around and saw that she was with Serah and Snow getting pictures taken.
Cloud was having trouble not starring at Lightning. He admitted to himself that she was beautiful in every way to him. When the wedding party started walking over to their table Cloud could not stop watching Lightning's shapely body that was being shown off by her tight dress.
Several minutes after everyone was seated, Gadot stood and tapped his glass so he could give his speech. Gadot's speech was filled with stories of the past and good humoured jokes that made everyone laugh a bit. He finished his speech with a toast to Snow and Serah's happiness which earned him a round of applause. Lightning stood up and the crowd fell silent to hear her speech.
Lightning's speech was very solemn and meaningful. She had a few subtle jokes in the speech about Snow being a bone head. Near the end of the speech a single tear rolled down her left cheek and Serah looked close to tears as well. The tears were brought forward by Lightning talking about how happy their parents would be. When Lightning finished her speech she also toasted to Serah and Snow's happiness and everyone had applauded her speech.
Lightning leaned down and told Serah that she had to excuse herself for a while. Cloud watched Lightning walk out of the hall and decided to follow her. Cloud found Lightning standing outside in the shadow of a tree. He walked up to her and heard that she was crying.
"Claire?" Cloud asked to get her attention "What's wrong?" Lightning turned to him as she wiped some tears away.
"Oh, nothing," She replied calmly "I always get like this when I think about my parents," Her voice was threatening to break again. Cloud stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her.
"Try not to think about what has been lost, think about what you have and what you can possibly gain in the near future," Cloud said to Lightning. He did not want to sound cruel in any way, but it sounded more harsh than he intended.
"Thank you for that," Lightning said to Cloud, still in his arms "That is very helpful."
"I just quoted someone, but it is a nice thing to remember,"
"Who said it?" Cloud chuckled slightly at the question.
"Sephiroth, after the war with Wutai," Cloud said quietly to Lightning. Lightning chuckled quietly at the fact that Cloud was quoting his nemesis.
They both went back into the hall and back to their tables. After several minutes of everyone talking, eating and drinking, music began to play. Snow and Serah stood, walked into the open area and started their first dance. Everyone in the hall had gone silent to watch them dance.
The couple would laugh nervously every now and again because they were the centre of attention. After the first dance many other people got up to dance, including Fang and Vincent. Cloud and Lightning entered the dance floor after it was already fairly crowded. Yuffie dragged Hope onto it just because she wanted to dance with someone who was near her age and not a girl.
Two hours later, Snow and Serah said their goodbyes to everyone who had attended their wedding and left for their honeymoon. The guests started to leave shortly after the couple left, all but the former l'Cie and Avalanche. They had converged into one large group and were finishing their drinks.
"Well we should head out now. Long night ahead," Fang said referring to Vincent and herself. Vincent was calmly finishing his glass of wine.
"But neither of you have night jobs," Vanille said with a confused tone. Everyone other than her and Hope instantly knew what Fang meant.
"Why the fuck would you openly say that?" Cid nearly shouted with a disgusted tone.
"It is amusing to see how you react," Vincent stated as he put down his glass. Vincent stood up and walked out with Fang.
"Well I'm definitely not sleeping tonight," Cid said as he stood up to leave "Then again, passing out counts," He muttered to himself.
Cloud and Lightning were the last people to leave the hall where the reception was held. They walked through the night with the starlit sky over their heads and the gentle sea breeze going against them. Cloud realized then that he like the smell of the sea when it was carried on the wind.
Cloud noticed something graze his fingers and quickly glanced to see what it was. Lightning had laced her fingers with his and had started walking closer to him. Cloud thought that she must be slightly cold in the dress she was wearing, but would not make any actions unless she did something.
"I really do love it when it's quiet like this," Lightning half whispered to Cloud "There is no other sounds to intrude on your thoughts," Cloud nodded in agreement as they kept walking.
It took almost fifteen minutes to walk back to Lightning's house from the reception hall. When they stepped up to the front door, Lightning reached into her small purse, that Serah made her bring, and grabbed her house keys. She swung the door open and invited Cloud inside.
Lightning walked into the kitchen and Cloud shut the door and kicked off his shoes before following her. Lightning ad filled a glass with water and was drinking it when Cloud entered the room. Lightning had gone through half of it before stopping to breath.
"Had to get an actual drink," Lightning said before finishing off the glass. Cloud could tell that she was slightly uncomfortable, he felt the same way.
After Lightning dropped her glass in the sink, she walked over to Cloud and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Lightning giggled quietly about the fact that she was two inches taller than Cloud because of the two inch heels she had on. Lightning also realized that enough wine made her giddy. Lightning leaned forward and pressed her lips against Cloud's and grazed her tongue against them.
Cloud felt Lightning flick her tongue over his lips and returned the action. Lightning though, had parted her lips and let Cloud's tongue slide between her lips. Cloud wrapped his arms around Lightning's middle and pulled her close to him.
After they parted to take a breath, they stared into each others blue eyes. Cloud lost himself in Lightning's icy cobalt and Lightning swam in Cloud's bright pools. They eyelids slowly slid down as they moved their heads closer together and started kissing again.
At one point they both knew they were walking but the night quickly became a blur as instinct took over them.